Our Adventures in Undertale
by Stressed2Obsessed
Summary: Best friends Julie and Ryan have both run away from their homes, determined to make a happier life for themselves. With nowhere to go and very little money, they decide to hide in the woods for now. When they choose to set up camp near the infamous Mt. Ebott, things take a strange turn for both of them. Can they survive in the Underground? Will they be able to save everyone?
1. Up The Mountain

**_This is a story that I've held onto for quite some time now. I wasn't going to post it, but figured i couldn't just leave it hidden away forever. This will be a slow update, because this is just something i write when I have writers block for my other stories and need to keep the creative juices flowing. But, if you guys like it enough and leave your comments down, I might be able to work a little fast on it. Right now, I just need to see how you like it. Thank you. Hope you enjoy!_**

_**Just a quick warning. This story contains cuss words, adult jokes, drug references and use. If you don't like, you don't have to read. Enjoy!**_

* * *

_Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS. One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell. As time went on, despite the story being called a legend, many humans still believed the stories of what lies underneath Mt. Ebott. Legends say that those who climb the mountain never return._

Our Adventures in Undertale

Ch. 1

Up the Mountain

_Many years later…_

_(May 28__th__, 2017)_

I scurried around my room, looking for any small things I may want or need. So far, the only things I had forgotten to pack earlier were a few of my favorite hats, headbands and some colorful socks. I was already wearing all the little things I knew I wouldn't be able to leave behind; my dark blue silky headband with silver stars all over it, a silver ring on my right hand, a jean-material bracelet on my left wrist and a woven watch bracelet with a little butterfly hanging off of it on the other. I also had a beer bottle cap hanging around my neck by a black string like a necklace.

I stuffed the hats into the large sports bag that held most of my things, while a medium sized backpack sat beside it holding other things. I looked into the sports bag. It held most of my clothes, two jackets, and a pair of black converts. I was currently wearing purple sneakers. It also had different kinds of food(mostly fruit and some veggies), and water bottles. There were also four large books laying inside it, wrapped around one of the jackets for safety. After zipping that bag up, I looked inside the backpack. It contained some more food and waters, as well as a blue knitted scarf, an ear warmer that wrapped around my head, and gloves. There was also my phone, earbuds, Ipod, and my chargers to go along with them. There were three more books in this bag as well, which were wrapped in a purple sweater. There was also had my wallet, along with all the cash I had left to my name; around 2400 dollars. Not nearly enough to survive on my own, but it would be enough for what I'm doing. Besides, I won't be on my own.

I put the backpack on and picked up the sports bag. I walked over to my bedroom door, opened it, then turned around. I looked all over my bedroom, taking it all it. As much as I loved this room and most of the memories I had in here, I knew that this was probably the last time I would ever see it. And, I think that's okay with me. Besides, I did have one other thing in my backpack from here that I couldn't part with. But, that was for later. I had to leave, now, or all of this planning will have been for nothing.

I smiled sadly all around the room before shutting the light off and closing the door, making sure to be very quiet while doing so. It was past 1am after all, and my parents were asleep by now. I needed them to stay asleep. As I walked down the hallway I stopped at the bedroom door next to mine. It was my little brother's room. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a piece of paper I had written a note on earlier. I had only written a few words.

_I'll come back for you. I promise._

I bent down and slowly slid the note underneath the door. I took a moment to stare at it, smiling sadly.

I tiptoed out into the living room, looking all around. The whole house was dark, save for a few lamps. I heard a soft meow at my feet, and I looked down to see my cat Emerald looking up at me. I smiled and kneeled down, petting his head. He purred as he leaned into my touch.

"Bye, baby," I whispered. "I'll come back for you, too."

He meowed again at me as I stood up and walked away. I walked towards the door and unlocked it, slipping out into the warm outdoors. Summer was definitely approaching. I marched out from underneath the porch and out into the front yard. There, parked in the front, was a small, red car. The drivers' window rolled down and a boy with dark hair poked his head out.

"Julie, c'mon!"

Forgetting about stealth for a bit, I quickly ran across the grass and over to his car, swinging open the passenger door and jumping in. I tossed my bags into the back seats before shutting the door and buckling my seatbelt.

"Any problems?" the boy asked.

"No," I said. "You know where we're going?"

"Yeah."

"Well, let's go."

"…Julie, I need to know if you're serious about this."

"Ryan, we've been over this-"

"You didn't agree to this until I said I was gonna do it. If you really don't-"

"Ryan," I cut him off. "Drive."

Ryan nodded, then turned the car on. He quickly maneuvered around the yard before finally reaching the drive way and driving out into the road.

I know you're probably thinking that things are going kind of fast. You might not even know what's going on. Or maybe you do. But, I'll explain anyway.

My name is Juliana Bleaker. I'm a 20 year old girl who has just graduated from community college. The boy sitting next to me is my brother, 19 year-old Ryan Clevers. We're not actually related, but we grew up together, so we consider each other family. And what are we doing right now exactly? Well, if it wasn't obvious enough, we're… leaving. Running away. Go ahead and say it. "Running away is a silly immature thing to do!" Yeah, I know, it almost happened when I was younger. Look, I'll spare you the details on why we're running off. Let's just say that things are… well, they're not the worse they can possibly be, but they are still pretty bad. I feel like Ryan might have it worse though. But, none of that matters anymore.

We were driving for about an hour before we reached the woods. We decided it would be best to ditch Ryan's car at the edge of the trees since we won't really need it, at least for now. I grabbed my bags, and Ryan grabbed his. He had an extra bag that was larger than the other two.

"How far away is the camping site?" I asked.

"Couple of miles," said Ryan. "We'll sneak in through the back end of the site instead of sneaking past the front gate. There's a small empty spot at the end of the site, that's where we're heading. It's far away from the lake, so not a lot of people will be there."

I made sure my backpack was tight on my shoulders as we started walking.

"This can't be permanent," I said.

"I know that. But, it's better than just going off until the car runs out of gas," said Ryan. "We'll stay here for about a week, then we'll see where that takes us."

"Then what?"

Ryan didn't answer. He just looked at the ground as we kept walking. I sighed. We were still in the process of running away, so we needed to find a spot to stop and hide out for a bit before we could really comprehend what to do next. But, it was past 2 am now, and I was very sleepy. Ryan didn't say anything, but the droopiness in his eyes gave him away. We were about halfway through the woods when I decided to stop.

"Hang on…"

"What?"

"Let's just stop here for the night," I suggested.

"Julie, it's only a few more miles."

"I know, but it's late, and after this I don't feel like setting up a tent. That's gonna take a while," I held his arm. "Couldn't we just camp out here? We can get a few hours of sleep, then keep going in the morning."

Ryan bit his lip, and nodded.

"Alright," he said. "Sounds good. And honestly, girl, I'm so tired right now. I seriously need some Starbucks or something."

I laughed. "I'll be sure to make a pit stop on the way to the site. C'mon, let's just roll out the sleeping bags and go to sleep."

Ryan nodded. We each took a sleeping bag out of our bigger bags. We found the clearest patch of grass we could, and rolled them out there.

"You know, I never thought we'd actually have the guts to do this," said Ryan. "And here we are."

"No kidding," I said as I slipped into the sleeping bag. "Hard to imagine anyone doing it, really."

There was silence as we both got comfortable in our bags.

"Hey," I said. "As hard as this may be, I know we'll get through it."

"Yeah!" said Ryan. "And, it doesn't have to be too serious. We can make it fun. A cool journey, an exciting travelling…"

"An awesome adventure," I added. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Ryan chuckled. "Heh. Kind of hard to have a real adventure in the 21st century, sis."

"No kidding, bro."

Ryan yawned. "Welp, good night."

"Night."

* * *

I've been up for a few minutes now. Just been listening to my music mostly. Ryan is still asleep, wrapped up in his sleeping bag. I'm just sitting here, listening to my music on my Ipod. I looked up into the sky. The sun was coming up, but was still just over the horizon.

I grabbed both my backpack and my sports bag and dragged them over towards me. I didn't necessarily feel like carrying two bags, so I decided to make some adjustments. I put some of the clothes that were in my sports back into my backpack, and then when I had enough room I stuffed the backpack into the sports bag.

"Hey…"

I looked up and saw Ryan opening one of his eyes.

"Morning," I said. "I was just fixing up my bags."

"Mmm…"

"What's in all your bags again?"

"Um… that big bag over there has the tent in it," he said, pointing a lazy finger to the largest of his bags. "And, uh… ugh, duffle bag has clothes and stuff, so does my backpack."

"Okay, well, I'm just gonna move some of your stuff, okay?"

"Mhmm…"

I rolled my eyes as I dragged his duffle bag and backpack over to me. I did the same thing to his bags as I did to mine; I figured it would make it easier for him.

By the time I was done, Ryan was starting to wake up more, and had suggested that we roll up our sleeping bags and put them in the big tent bag for now. I was halfway through rolling up my bag when I noticed something move in front of me. I looked up, and stared. It appeared to be a tiny, white dog. But, it seemed… different. And I don't know why, but it had a look that made it seem… annoying.

The creature let out a high-pitched bark before it latched its jaw onto my sports bag and ran off with it.

"Hey!"

I yelled as I leapt up and ran after it. Ryan called after me, but I ignored him. I sprinted off through the trees, running after the animal. It squeaked as it ran with my bag. For a tiny animal, it was surprisingly strong to carry my overstuffed sports bag. I tripped over some roots, but managed to stay on my feet and keep going.

I was running so fast that I wasn't even sure where I was going. Eventually I lost sight of the animal as it rounded the corner of a giant rock and disappeared. I didn't stop, and I sprinted around the same corner the dog did. I saw my sports bag laying in the dirt, covered in mud and leaves. I slowed down until I came to a stop, huffing and puffing as I tried to catch my breath.

"Stupid… dog… or whatever… you are…"

I took in deep breathes as I walked forward and picked up my bag. Brushing the dirt off of it, I straightened up and looked around. I was very far off from where I had been. Though, I did recognize it a little. I looked up and saw that I was standing by what looked like a mountain.

"No way…"

"Julie!" Ryan had finally caught up with me, and was out of breath. "Don't… do that… again!"

I didn't respond, but continued to look up at the mountain in front of me.

"Dude… This is perfect!" I said. "Why didn't I think about this before?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Mt. Ebott!" I exclaimed, pointing at the mountain in front of us. "We'll live by Mt. Ebott!"

Ryan gaped at me.

"Mt. Ebott? But… but everyone says that…"

"I know the legend, silly," I said excitedly. "'Those who climb the mountain never return'. Everyone knows it, and everyone believes it! Because of that, no one will ever come near this place!"

Ryan bit his lip. "Well… you got a point there…"

"Go get your stuff," I said quickly. "We can find a spot around here to set up camp. Hurry!"

He nodded and shuffled away to go get his stuff. I turned as I beamed up at the mountain, then started to feel nervous. I didn't admit this to most people, but I did believe in the legends of Mt. Ebott. Everything about the the curses, magic and monsters living underground- I believed it all. Mostly because I didn't have a reason not to. But, even if the legends were true, that meant the monsters were trapped down there, and couldn't escape. So, why should I be nervous?

I shook my head as I picked up my bag and started walking around, examining the area. It seemed nice and hidden enough, so it should be fine. I kneeled down and started to open my bag when I heard a 'yipping' sound. I turned. It was the same, little white dog I had seen before.

"What do you want?" I asked irritably.

It yipped again, and then lunged forward for my bag. This time I was ready, and I gripped my bag handle tightly.

"Oh no, you don't!"

The dog didn't growl or make another sound. It stared blankly up at me as it started to drag the bag back, and with incredible strength, started to drag me as well.

"What the-?"

Suddenly, my foot got caught on a root and I tripped and fell forward. The ground seemed to crumble beneath me and I continued to fall until I shortly landed on a ledge. I groaned, pushing myself up, and the first thing I saw was the darkness that lay over the ledge. I gasped as I tried to sit up, but I slipped and started to fall. I quickly scrambled and grabbed the edge with my arms, trying to pull myself up.

"Oh g- RYAN!"

I screamed, screamed as loud as I could. The little white dog appeared above me, still holding my bag in its mouth. It yipped before jumping up and diving down into the darkness below me. I stared as it fell down until I couldn't see it anymore. Then, my arms started to slip from the edge and I scrambled to stay up.

"RYAN!"

"Julie?!"

Ryan appeared above me, a look of horror on his face.

"Help me!"

Ryan gasped before he dropped his bags, one of them falling over the edge and down into the hole. He didn't seem to care, and he jumped down onto the ledge that I was on and grabbed my arms. I kicked and pushed as much as I could until I was able to climb back up onto the surface.

"Are you okay?" Ryan asked, gripping my shoulders.

I nodded. He pulled me forward and held me tightly, and I held him back. I felt like I was about to cry for a second.

"Dude, we should get up before we fall."

Ryan nodded. He turned and started to climb up, but he stopped very quickly.

"What's the hold up?"

He stood there for a moment before trying to climb again. He stopped once more. He turned to face me.

"I… I can't get up."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, it- it's like there's a wall or something. It won't let me climb up!"

"What-?"

But, before I could say more there was a loud cracking sound. I looked down, and saw that the ledge we were on was beginning to break up. Before I could warn him there was a snap. I fell downward, mine and Ryan's screams filling my ears.


	2. Into the RUINS

Ch. 2  
Into the RUINS

I felt my eyes open and could see a small ray of light. I groaned, feeling as though I had been hit in the head with a hammer. Which is surprising, considering how far down I fell. As I shifted around I became conscious of something thick and soft underneath me, and as I looked around I saw that I was surrounded by a mass of yellow. As I lifted my head, I saw a dark shape laying by my feet.

"R…Ryan?"

The figure groaned, and slowly sat up. It was Ryan. He looked disheveled and just as sore as I was, but he didn't seem to be too injured.

"Julie?" Ryan grunted as he straightened up. "Oh God, Julie! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said, sitting up. "You?"

"I'm good. I… Huh? Are these flowers?"

I rubbed my eyes as I looked around. Ryan and I were both laying on a large, wide bed of golden yellow flowers. If I had to guess, they were probably buttercups. They were surprisingly thick and sturdy for such lovely flowers.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm guessing they're what broke our fall?"

"How's that possible…"

I slowly pushed myself to my feet and looked around the dark ground. I saw my sports bag laying just a few feet away from where I had been laying, but the little white dog that had taken it was nowhere to be found. I ran forward and picked it up, unzipping it. Nothing seemed to be broken; my clothes were fine, so were my books, as well as my phone, my Ipod, and everything.

"Found my bag."

"Me too," said Ryan, walking over to me, his own strapped over his shoulder. "Our other bags are still up there though." he pointed up towards the small dot of light above us, which was the hole where we fell through. "Damn it! All of our food and camping supplies is up there!"

"What should we do?" I asked. "Should we call someone?"

"And then what? Get in trouble for trespassing, get sent back home to our parents, and then get into even more trouble? No way," he held up his phone. "Besides, I don't have signal down here."

I sighed as I looked around. It looked like we were in a large cave, and it was rather dark.

"Hold on," I said.

I reached into the bag and took out my cell phone. I flipped through all the settings before finding the flashlight and turning it on. Ryan messed with his phone for a moment before doing the same.

"I guess… we go forward?" he asked.

"I suppose so."

We both stepped off the bed of buttercups and started to walk forward towards a dark entrance. As we headed further into the dark I felt my feet stop. I could feel a soft chill crawl up my spine. The fact that we were inside THE Mt. Ebott seemed to have finally clicked, and I wasn't too thrilled about it. Ryan stopped and reached over to grab my wrist.

"Come on, we can't stay here."

I nodded, and allowed him to drag me forward. We continued to walk down the long, dark hall of the cave. As we reached the end we came across what looked like a doorway, with dark columns on either side. There was a strange symbol on the top of the doorway, but even when I shined my light on it the carving was too faded to see.

"Looks like there really might be some monsters living down here," said Ryan.

"I thought you said you believed the legend."

"I do, but after a while you start to have your doubts, you know?"

I nodded. Ryan and I looked at each other for a moment before we both walked forward through the doorway, him still holding my wrist. Not even two steps in, we saw light pouring through the ceiling, and in front of us was a little green patch. On the patch was a single yellow flower that looked just like the ones that we had landed on. Except, it was much larger than the others. We glanced around the room before we started to walk forward.

The flower turned to face us.

Ryan and I stopped in our tracks, gripping each other's hands tighter. The flower… looked at us.

"Howdy!" it said in a high pitched voice. "I'm Flowey. Flowey the Flower!"

Ryan and I both looked at each other. Looks like we've just met our first monster.

"Um… hi?" Ryan said unsurely. "I'm… I'm Ryan. This is my sister, Julie."

"H-hey," I stuttered.

"Wow, great to meet you!" said Flowey happily. "Hmmm… You're both new to the UNDERGROUND, aren'tcha?"

"You could say that," I told him.

"Golly, you must be so confused."

"You have no idea," said Ryan.

"Someone ought to teach you how things work around here!" Flowey seemed to shrug. "I guess little old me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!"

Suddenly, everything turned black. I felt something warm form in my chest, and something started glowing in front of me. I blinked several times as I looked down. There, hovering in front of my chest, was a small heart. It was a light shade of lavender, and was glowing brightly. I stared down at it, mesmerized.

"Uh, Julie…?"

I turned to look at Ryan, and saw that he had a vibrant, bright pink heart hovering in front of his chest. Not only that, I saw that he had been drained of all color. Not as if he were ill, he just literally didn't have any color. His body and clothes had gone completely black and white. As I looked back down at myself, I saw that I too was black and white. We stared at each other before looking forward. We could see what appeared to be little icons hovering above us.

**Julie LV 1 HP **lllllllllllllllllllll**20/20 Ryan LV 1 HP ****IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**** 20/20**

"Are you seeing that, too?" asked Ryan.

I nodded. "They look like… health bars."

"Health bars?" asked Ryan.

"Yeah, like in video games. If you get hit a certain number of times, your health goes down."

I played a lot of video games back home; loved them to death. Ryan didn't though, so there were a few terms and things that he often didn't understand when it came to games. At that moment, Flowey popped up in front of us. He was no longer colorful, but black and white like us.

"See those hearts?" he asked. "Those are your SOULS; the very culmination of your being. Your SOUL starts out weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV."

"LV?" I asked. "Like, 'Level'?"

"Level?" Ryan asked, confused.

"Video game term," I said. "Like, in most RPGs, you 'level up' as you play the game."

But Flowey giggled. "Hehehe, it doesn't stand for level, silly girl!"

I frowned. "Well, what then?"

"Why, LOVE, of course!"

"Aww, that's so cute!" said Ryan.

"You both want some LOVE, don't you?" Flowey asked.

"Um… sure, why not?" I shrugged. This was starting to feel strange.

"Don't worry, I'll share some with you!"

Flowey winked at us, and multiple little white pellets seemed to magically appear around him. They formed an arch above him as he smiled at us.

"Down here, LOVE is shared through… Little white… "friendliness pellets"," Flowey was practically beaming.

"Is he trying to give us Molly?" I whispered, and Ryan giggled.

Flowey frowned for a moment before ginning, "Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!"

At once, the pellets moved, and started to head towards us. Ryan looked at me, and gave a shrug.

"Why not?"

And before I could stop him, Ryan ran forward, arm outstretched, and grabbed one of the pellets. The affect was instantaneous. The other pellets suddenly disappeared and Ryan let out a painful scream as he fell to the floor, crumpling up in a ball. I shrieked and ran over to him, turning him on his back. He was groaning in pain, clutching his chest. The pink heart- his soul- was quivering. I saw something shift in front of me, and I looked up.

**Ryan LV 1 HP ****I**** 01/20**

"What did you do?!" I screamed, glaring at Flowey.

That's when I saw that his face had changed. He was still smiling, but his face… it was a look of pure evil.

"You idiots!" he screeched. "In this world, it's kill or BE killed! Why would ANYONE pass up an opportunity like this?"

Suddenly, what looked like 20 of his so-called 'friendliness pellets' appeared, forming a circle around me and Ryan. I gasped. Ryan's health bar was practically empty. If even one of those things touched him again…

"DIE."

Flowey started laughing evilly as the pellets started to close in on Ryan and I. There was nothing I could do. Ryan was stuck on the floor and I was trapped in the circle. The pellets were getting closer and closer, until…

**Ryan LV 1 HP ****IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**** 20/20**

I stared. Ryan's HP was restored this time. I turned, and saw that Flowey looked just as confused. Then, what looked like a fireball appeared next to him. It shot forward and knocked him out of the area, and out of sight. Before I could even turn to see where the fire had come from, another figure strolled out in front of us.

It looked like a giant goat. And, judging by the appearance, I'd say it was probably female. She was wearing a long dress that had the same symbol on her chest that was above the doorway in the cave. We were still in the odd darkness, so she was still in black and white, same as us. I felt Ryan shift around underneath my hands, and he sat up, staring at the new monster.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth…"

Her voice was soft and low, and she seemed so gentle. I felt Ryan grip my arm tightly, but I didn't look at him. The goat woman turned away from where Flowey had disappeared, and looked directly at us. She was actually very pretty, for a goat, of course.

"Oh my," she said, a hand coming up to cover her face. "There are two of you! That's never happened before."

She took a step towards us, and Ryan flinched back a bit. I put a protective arm around his shoulders, holding him tightly. This woman might have just saved us, but I still wasn't sure if I could trust her.

"Ah, do not be afraid, my children," she said gently, smiling at us. "I am Toriel, caretaker of the RUINS."

I looked at her for a moment before standing up, helping Ryan to his feet. He held my shoulder tightly as I rubbed his back to comfort him.

"I'm Julie," I told her. "This is my brother."

"I-I'm Ryan," Ryan gulped.

"It is a pleasure to meet you both," said Toriel, bowing her head slightly. "Hmm… I must say, you are the oldest humans to ever fall down here. What happened?"

"We were walking by the mountain and fell down a hole," I said simply. I wasn't ready to go into details with this woman just yet. "How did you find us?"

"I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down," Toriel answered. "You are the first humans to come here in a long time."

"How long?" asked Ryan.

"Oh, at least a century now."

Ryan and I stared at her. I guess monsters can live longer than humans?

"Um, would it be alright if we got out of this battle arena, please?" I asked.

"Oh, of course," Toriel nodded. "Come! I will guide you both through the catacombs."

Just like that, the darkness faded and the hearts in front of our chests disappeared. We were back in the normal world. I looked up at Toriel, and saw that she was much more colorful now. Her fur was pure white, and her dress was a beautiful shade of dark purple. Her large, gentle eyes were a dark, brownish red.

"This way," she said, turning and walking forward.

I started to follow her, but Ryan grabbed my wrist.

"Can we trust her?" he whispered.

I looked at him for a moment, then back at Toriel.

"She did save us," I said. "And if she wanted to hurt us, she would've done it while we were in battle mode."

"Yeah, but still-"

"Are you two coming?" Toriel called to us, making us look up. "If you do not follow me, you will surely get lost."

I looked at Ryan, gave him a stiff nod, and turned to smile at Toriel.

"We're coming!"

She smiled, and continued walking. I started to follow her, and after a moment, Ryan did too.

Toriel led us both through another doorway, which led us into a light, purple room. It was filled with piles of red leaves, and two rows of stairs on each side leading to an upper floor with another door. But, my focus remained on what looked like a bright shining star that sat in between the two rows of stairs. I glanced at Ryan and saw that he was looking at it too. We both hesitated before walking forward, and I, not wanting Ryan to get hurt again so easily, decided to reach out and touch it.

**(The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination. Your soul is filled with gentle Empathy.)**

**(HP fully restored.)**

After that, a small, black box appeared in front of my eyes.

**EMPTY LV 0 0:00**

It had the options 'Save' and 'Reset' on it in white font. Obviously, this was some kind of save point. I reached up and pressed the Save option, and there was a loud "beeling" sound as it saved.

**Julie LV 1 2:50**

**Ruins - Entrance**

I lowered my hand, and the box disappeared.

"It's okay," I told Ryan. "Go on."

He nodded and went forward, touching the star too. The box said the same as mine, except for the last part.

**(…Your soul is filled with pure Honesty.)**

**(HP fully restored.)**

**Ryan LV 1 3:16**

**Ruins - Entrance**

Ryan saved as well as he looked at me.

"I guess this really is like a video game, huh?"

"I suppose so."

Without hesitating, we both walked up the right flight of stairs, following Toriel through the large door. The next room was made of the same purple marble as the previous one. Except, this room had six large grey buttons on the ground and a yellow switch on the wall, and the door was shut.

"Welcome to your new home, young ones," said Toriel.

"Oh, this is where you live?" I asked, looking around the room.

Toriel chuckled. "Not quite. My house it a bit further away than here, but we will be arriving there shortly. Now, allow me to educate you in the operation of the RUINS."

With that, she turned and walked in a circle, stepping on four of the six grey buttons before walking up and flipping the yellow switch. At that moment, the large door finally opened.

"How did you do that?" Ryan asked.

"By solving the puzzle, Ryan," said Toriel. "The RUINS are full of puzzles; Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please, both of you, adjust yourself to the sight of them."

Giving us a patient smile, Toriel turned and walked through the door.

"So, we just gotta solve puzzles in order to move forward?" said Ryan as we both walked toward the door. "Doesn't seem too hard."

I nodded. I used to play a lot of puzzle games, so this would be simple enough for me, depending on the puzzles, of course. As we walked forward I noticed a sign on the wall next to the door.

_Only the fearless may proceed._

_Brave ones, foolish ones._

_Both walk not the middle road._

"Julie, you coming?"

I had stopped walking to look at the sign. I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so I wasn't completely sure what that sign meant. Perhaps it had something to do with the puzzle Toriel just did? I shrugged and followed Ryan through the door.

The next room had a lighter path that seemed to lead to a bridge across a river. Toriel was standing there, waiting for us.

"To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches," she told us. "Do not worry, I have labelled the ones that you need to flip."

"That's very kind of you," I said.

Toriel smiled at me. "Yes, now, come along."

She turned and started to walked across the small bridge down the light path. I noticed that there was a sign in front of us and I read it.

"**Press [Z] to read signs!"**

Ryan stared. "Press Z?"

"Okay, now this is just getting weird," I said, folding my arms.

"Um, Julie, what's that in your pocket?"

I gave Ryan a quizzical look before looking down. There, in my pants pocket, looked like some kind of calculator. After taking out I realized that it wasn't in fact a calculator at all, it looked like a keyboard with Velcro straps underneath it. I stared at it for the longest time before realization hit me.

"Ohh…"

I raised my left arm and strapped the curved keypad onto my arm. This was very strange, but it was starting to make more and more sense.

"Hey, I want one!" Ryan snapped.

I looked at them, then glanced down.

"You have one. Look in your pockets."

Ryan reached behind him and pulled out a keypad similar to mine. He grinned as he strapped it to his right arm. Then, he ran forward off the lighter path and over to the purple brick wall, where there was a sign hanging on the wall.

"What's it say?" I asked.

Ryan pressed a button on his keypad, probably Z, and a black text box appeared.

**Stay on the path.**

"Whoops!"

Ryan quickly turned and ran back to the path. I rolled my eyes as we turned and walked down the path across the first bridge, and I saw part of the path lead to the wall, where there was a yellow switch surrounded by arrows. I ran forward, grabbed it and pulled it down. We continued on across another bridge, and saw Toriel waiting at the end of the room, where the doorway to the next room was blocked by spears. The path lead to two more switches, only one of which had arrows around it. Ryan ran up to the one with arrows and pulled. There was a loud bang, and the spears disappeared.

"Splendid!" Toriel said happily. "I am proud of you both!"

"Thank you," I said brightly. I was starting to like this woman.

She smiled at me. "Let us move to the next room."

She turned, and we followed her into the next room. This one didn't seem to have any puzzles, and the door was already opened. However, it did seem to have a small, cotton dummy sitting off to the side. Toriel stopped in front of us and turned to look at us.

"As you are both humans living in the UNDERGROUND, monsters may attack you," she informed us. "You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not! The process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT. While you are in a FIGHT, strike up a friendly conversation."

I raised my eyebrows at her. Talk to them? That's not how games are usually played. I mean, I know that this is real life and not a videogame, but everything in here was so videogame-esque that I assumed it would all be so.

"What do we do after that?" asked Ryan.

"Simple," said Toriel. "Stall for time. I will come to resolve the conflict. Go on. Practice talking to the dummy."

She walked forward and stood next to the dummy. Me and Ryan looked at each other before walking forward. Everything faded to black like before, and we turned to black and white again. The lavender heart appeared in front of me and the pink heart appeared in front of Ryan.

**[You encountered the Dummy.]**

This time though, there were four yellow buttons in front of us. FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY. I guess this is what we would use to interact. Obviously, we weren't gonna use FIGHT, so I assumed we would use ACT. I reached up and pressed the ACT button. I then pressed the Dummy's name, and the options Check and Talk appeared. I was curious, so I pressed Check.

**[DUMMY – ATK 0 DEF 0]**

**[A cotton heart and a button eye]**

**[You are the apple of my eye]**

"…"

**[Dummy looks like it's going to fall over.]**

"Your turn."

Ryan looked at me, then pressed ACT. This time, he pressed the Talk option.

"Um… hi," he said.

"What's up?" I added.

**[You talked to the DUMMY.]**

**[…]**

**[It doesn't seem much for conversation.]**

**[TORIEL seems happy with you]**

**[YOU WON!]**

**[You earned 0XP and 0 gold.]**

"Zero?!" Ryan snapped. "What? But, we won!"

"It's probably just cause it's a dummy," I told him. "We might not earn anything until we fight a real monster."

Ryan still looked mad, but nodded. The blackness faded back into the beautiful purple walls, and Toriel was smiling at us both.

"Ah, very good! You are both very good," she said. "Let's move along, you two."

We followed her into the next room. I instantly knew that there was something here. The brighter path on the floor was oddly shaped for this room.

"There is another puzzle in this room…" said Toriel. "I wonder if you can solve it?"

I wasn't paying attention to her or Ryan, but was staring at the strange path on the floor.

"Julie, c'mon."

"Okay, okay."

I turned and followed Ryan and Toriel through the hall. But, before anything was said the world faded into black. Ryan and I were black and white again and our hearts were out and ready, and a monster stood before us. It looked kind of like a frog, but I knew it wasn't.

**[Froggit attacks you!]**

"Holy hell!" Ryan yelped. He was very unprepared for a surprise attack.

I took a deep breath and shook my head. Toriel warned us that monsters may attack us, right? Did we expect it this soon though? No. But, it's okay. I pressed the ACT button and clicked on the Froggit's name. I decided, again, to Check it.

**[FROGGIT – ATK 4 DEF 5]**

**[Life is difficult for this enemy.]**

I wanted to ask the Froggit why it's life was so difficult, but before I could get a chance to press Talk, Toriel suddenly slid into view, a stern look on her face. The Froggit looked at her before shuffling away, looking intimidated.

**[YOU WON!]**

**[You earned 0XP and 0 gold.]**

"Wha- But-!"

"It's probably because we didn't win on our own," I said quickly. "Hopefully, we'll be able to battle someone while Toriel isn't around."

The darkness faded and we were back in the RUINS.

"Are you both alright?" Toriel asked. "That monster came out of nowhere."

"We're fine," Ryan assured her.

Toriel nodded. "Let us move on, then."

We continued through the path without any more fights. But, halfway down the hall, I saw a sign on the wall. I nudged Ryan and he saw it and ran towards it. He lifted his keypad and pressed Z.

**The western room is the eastern room's blueprint.**

"What does that mean?" Ryan asked.

I shrugged. We turned away from the sign and continued forward until we were directly behind Toriel. She had stopped because in front of her was a level of spikes above a large pool of water.

"How are we supposed to get across that?" asked Ryan.

"Hmm… This is the puzzle, but…" Toriel turned towards us. "Here, one of you, take my hand."

Ryan and I looked at each other for a moment before he walked forward and grasped her large, furry hand.

"Julie, please hold Ryan's hand."

I nodded and grabbed his other hand.

"Hold on for a moment, and stay close."

And just like that, she turned and started leading us into the spikes. I was worried at first, but as she twisted and turned, the spikes she went across disappeared under her feet, and then popped back up as we all went across them. Within a few moments, we were on the other side, and Toriel released Ryan's hand.

"Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now," she said.

She turned, and we headed into the next room. This one seemed to be an extremely long, narrow hallway with a bright path going down the middle.

"You both have done excellently thus far," said Toriel.

"Thanks," said Ryan.

"Yes. However… I have a difficult request to ask of you."

She paused for a moment, looking hesitant.

"What is it?" I asked.

She took a deep breath. "I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourselves. Forgive me for this."

Before we could stop her, she turned and walked away.

"Wait-!"

But she was already gone.

"Well, that's a bit rude," said Ryan harshly.

"C'mon, let's go."

And with that, we both started walking down the hall, making sure the stay on the path. We were worried about maybe running into any monsters on the way, but the whole room was clear of anything or anyone. It took us probably only a few minutes to reach the end of the room. As we did, something came out from behind a large, white pillar. It was Toriel.

"There you are!" I said happily.

"Greetings, young ones," she said. "Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time."

"We saw that," said Ryan. "Pretty good hiding spot."

I rolled my eyes, and Toriel chuckled.

"Yes, indeed. Thank you both for trusting me. However," she added. "There was an important reason for this exercise… to test your independence."

"Oh, are we gonna be going on our own then?" I asked.

"Goodness, no!" Toriel said, looking surprised. "You mustn't wander around by yourselves, at least not yet. I must attend to some business, and you two must stay here for a while."

"Really?" Ryan said, sounding very much disappointed.

"Please, remain here," she pleaded. "It's dangerous to explore on your own. I understand that you both are a little older and you have some sense of independence, but I don't want either of you getting hurt."

I sighed. I didn't like the idea of just sitting here until she got back. I mean, I was 20 years old for crying out loud. I'm not a child. But, Toriel had been so good to us this whole time, and I hated the idea of upsetting her.

"Okay…" I said glumly.

"Thank you," she said. "Hmm… I have an idea. Do you each have a cell phone? I know that older humans such as yourselves tend to have such devices."

"Yeah," I said, reaching into my pocket and pulling my phone out. Ryan did the same.

"Oh, good," Toriel reached out. "May I?"

Me and Ryan both dropped our phones into her large hands. She raised them both up, and stared at them.

"How unique," she said, admiring the galaxy print case on my phone, and the pink and blue cat face on Ryan's.

One at a time, she started typing something into our phones.

"There," she said, giving them back to us. "Now, you have my number. If you have a need for anything, just call."

"Alright," I said.

Ryan didn't respond, just stared down at his phone for a moment. Toriel frowned slightly.

"Is something wrong, Ryan?"

"No no, it's just…" he looked up at her. "How come you're so concerned about us? I get that you want to help us, but… you seem to be really worried about us."

I turned from him to face Toriel. She had an almost sad look on her face for a moment, but it disappeared quickly.

"I guess I have a tendency to mother over young people in need," she admitted sheepishly, a soft blush appearing on her cheeks. "I'm not too sure why, but… I find myself oddly attached and want to assure you make it through safely."

"Don't be embarrassed," I said, smiling. "We like you too, and we wanna make it through this."

Toriel smiled, the redness leaving her face. She straightened herself up, looking a little more confident.

"Then I will do everything I can to make sure you make it, my children."

I couldn't help but giggle. She was really taking the 'my children' thing seriously.

"Nice."

"Yeah thanks, _mom_," Ryan said jokingly.

I snorted. God, he could be so annoying. As I looked up I noticed Toriel was giving him a strange look, her eyes wide. It was hard to tell if she was surprised or upset.

"Did… did you just call me… "mom"?"

"Uhh," Ryan stammered. It was clear that he wasn't sure what to say. "Y-yeah, um…"

"He didn't mean it," I said quickly, feeling my own face begin to heat up, despite the fact that I hadn't even said anything. "S-see… back on the surface, calling someone else 'mom' was kind of our way of saying we respected and liked her. A-and… we respect you and like you, so… um-"

"Would… would that make you both happy?" Toriel asked gently. "To call me… mother?"

We stared at her, hearts pounding loudly. Was she serious? We couldn't possibly call her 'mom', could we? After all, we both had mothers of our own. Though… our relationship with either of our parents was strained in ways that couldn't be fixed. And we did run away from them. I had the urge to tell her that it wasn't necessary, and at the same time a strong urge to accept.

"I'd… I'd be happy calling you mom."

"I would like that, too."

Toriel stared down at us before her face broke out into the most beautiful smile I had ever seen on her.

"Very well, then… children."

I grinned at her. Then, I heard something that sounded like an animal growling loudly. Ryan wrapped his hands around his stomach, looking embarrassed.

"Sorry," he said. "I guess I'm a little hungry."

"Yeah," I said, realizing how hungry I was. "We haven't eaten since yesterday."

For some reason I felt bad, mentioning how hungry I actually was. I felt kind of selfish, saying it just after Toriel had obviously taken on responsibility for us. But, as I looked up at her, I saw that she had a curious little smile on her face.

"Perhaps we can do something about that later on," she said. "Now, I must go and take care of some things. Call if you need me. Be good, alright?"

"Yes, ma'am," we said in unison.

She grinned, then turned and walked away.


End file.
